
DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280069

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER

LENGTH: 48 lines

SCHOONER SETS SAIL WITH SONGS, STORIES

THIS WEEKEND, while the Mariners' Museum in Newport News is breaking the bottle on its new pirates exhibit, seafarers in the village of Ocracoke on the Outer Banks of North Carolina - Blackbeard's old haunt - are re-creating a forgotten sliver of the maritime experience.

For $25, guests can board the two-masted schooner Windfall at Ocracoke's community store-pier and prepare to sing choruses of traditional sea chanteys with Norfolk minstrel Bob Zentz. To make it even more authentic, patrons will get to work the boat's ropes and sails, to a reasonable and fun extent.

Boarding time is 2:30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday. Call (919) 928-SAIL (7245) for reservations for the two-hour trip, which revisits Blackbeard's watery path.

Zentz and Rob Temple, captain of the 57-foot sailing vessel, swap lies, lore and actual history on the ``Sea-Chantey Sail.'' One such tale insists that Blackbeard himself gave the tiny island its name upon his death in 1718.

``Legend has it that during the long night preceding his capture, Blackbeard, impatient for the dawn, cried out, `O Crow Cock, O Crow Cock,' and from that came the name Ocracoke,'' said Temple, regaling a few dozen patrons aboard the Windfall earlier this summer.

That's not the only cultural opportunity in Ocracoke this holiday weekend. Deep Water Pottery Theater, an outdoor venue that seats about 55 people, has a pretty full evening schedule:

On Friday, Zentz will tell stories and play music. Tickets: $6 and $3. Saturday, there's ``Cabaret '97,'' a witty, spoofing musical revue put together by Ocracoke playwright Cynthia Mitchell; $6. And Sunday, famed storyteller Donald Davis; $6 and $3. All start at 8:30 p.m. Call (919) 928-7004. ILLUSTRATION: Photo Bob Zentz will entertain on the ``Sea-Chantey

Sail'' this weekend in Ocracoke.

Graphic

WANT TO GO?

What: ``Sea-Chantey Sail,'' two-hour trips aboard the two-masted

schooner Windfall, featuring sea chanteys by folksinger Bob Zentz

Where: Ocracoke's community store-pier

When: 2:30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday

Price: $25

Call: (919) 928-SAIL (7245)